school started yesterday. but thanks to my sembreak-like schedule, i stayed home, i got no class during mondays. as for tomorrow, it'll be officially my first day. the first of the my last days in school.
maybe i should stop making friendster my daily habit. it's a hard habit to break. but something has to give. maybe i'll just contain myself and limit my online time. if this would make the road to graduation on cruise mode, then it'll be worth it.
'til the next misadventure...
yesterday, a few friends wanted to drink and i obliged. we had another dvd movie marathon with our good ol' pal SMB light. someone suggested that we should watch something scary. and from a recent trip to the pirated dvd capital of the philippines, we chose from recent titles and decided to watch Dark Water. it was already past midnight and we turned all the lights off. this should be fun: a post halloween scare-fest.
midway through the movie, we were getting restless. the story took so long to develop. maybe this is like The Ring where the fright is at the end. we waited for a few minutes more for something scary to come out but nothing came. one friend even fell asleep and had to rewind to the scene he had missed. what a letdown.
thoughts of ghosts and monsters scare me. i'm a chicken when it comes to scary movies. i was never a fan of scary movies until i saw The Ring. Sadako scared the living hell out of me! after The Ring, there came a bunch of scary movies from japan or if not, thrillers with a japanese theme. and i think it's getting old, this is proof. i wasn't scared at all and there was no after movie anxiety.
The Eye was a visual treat. i remember having two of my friends, both female, one on each side of me ripping my uniform-off out of fear. there was also a scene in an elevator where an old man appeared with only half of his face. we looked to our left and saw an old man who looks like the one on the big screen sitting by himself. we just ignored him and after a few minutes we looked again and saw that he was gone. scary. turns out he just changed seats and moved two rows forward.
The Ring, on the other hand, was a different story. after watching a last full show, i came home late, around 11:30. everybody was asleep but thoughts of Sadako still lingered. i can't sleep. i was scared to look at the reflection of a turned-off tv. but at the same time i was scared to turn it on. Sadako might come out! then at around 1am the phone rang. i shouldn't answer the ringing phone. but i gathered myself and answered the call. all i heard was silence. i was going to die in 7 days. i waited for my seventh day. good thing nothing happened and no one came out of the tv! whew!
the 7th of November was the scheduled registration day for graduating students, and i'm one of them, finally. i'm now officially a graduating student. for the past 2 years my name has been included in the list of graduating students. 2 years of people on the list leaving me behind. the only reason i'm in this list was one or two major courses that were courses of graduating students.
this will be my last semester in the college. and i'll make sure of that. with only 5 units left to pass, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. the banners are waiting for me on the other side. i can hear the screams. i can feel the love. i know i shouldn't get ahead of myself but i just can't help it. and i know that if the going gets tough, just the sight of the finish line would give me the second wind i need. besides, i'll have the ultimate defense to failure... prayers. i'm bulletproof.
thoughts of post-graduation should be my concern right now. but on the contrary, it's on the bottom of my list of "to ponders." right now all i am thinking is the glory. the hardships and the trials are almost over now. it's been seven agonizing but gratifying years. two years beyond the standard. two years wasted for some. but to me, two years that will make my graduation a little bit sweeter.
see you at the finish line!
further cleaning and rearranging, i found some letters...
remember the highschool recollections? the retreats? remember the letters of friends wishing you a happy retreat, goodluck, blah-blah-blah? it's really funny how many letters you will receive with only a small percentage of them coming from the heart. others write goodluck letters for the sake of receiving letters themselves. who wouldn't want to read a sack of letters right? makes you feel popular. but there are those that are really heart-warming, i felt bad because i couldn't return the favor for i'm not good at writing or giving letters. now i realize that it really doesn't matter how good your letter is, as they say, it's the thought that counts.
here are a few letters:
...RON...
Hi! Sana eh.. masaya ka ngayon at excited ng magretreat... naalala ko pa dati yung mga gumigimmick tayo.. ang saya.. sa Hard Rock.. sa Studi.. sa E.K.. sa Starbucks.. sa Quad.. sa Bahay ni Gareth.. (nandun ka ba non?)
..yung mga panahon na crush ko pa si.... Sa madaling salita,
MISS NA KITA!!!
...Sino na ba ang special someone mo?...
a nice guy like you will surely find Love...
Love will come your way.. Wait and see...
..if ever troubles cross your path i will be here to Listen
and comfort you...
TAKE CARE ALWAYS....
HAPPY RETREAT!!!
KC
thanks mommy KC! you're the best!
here's another:
Ron Gilbert;
Happy Retreat!
Hope you succeed in your endeavours.
Ingat lang sa tsiks ha! pogei kapa naman
aral muna at basketbol sabi ni Dad MoN.
Ingat palagi at magdasal.
Francis Gil
Tatang
i laughed while reading this! can't help but utter: si tatang talaga o...
in the bulk of retreat letters, there was one with a different subject. it was a christmas letter from my good pal gene:
r
o
n
i,
thanks for being a true
friend all these years... =)
Basta, come what may
I'll be with you every step
of the way.
Merry Christmas chong! and
may you have a happy,
fruitful & blessed new year!!!
love you ron! =)
- gene
there's a few more nice letters but maybe i'll post them some other time. my fingers are tired. then something caught my eye. a folded piece of paper, obviously a page torn-off a math notebook.
RON
P600 ko!
HINDI KA
PUPUNTA SA LANGIT
DE ROB
i'm innocent!
arguably, today was the most boring day of my sembreak. i could watch another dvd movie but the 3 dvd's i watched yesterday was more than enough for me. i could lift weights or maybe clean my room perhaps. cleaning and lifting weights are my options? just a testament of how boring this day was. so i chose to clean my room today and next thing i knew i was having blasts from the past...
there's this cabinet in my room where i keep my past stuff like old highschool and college books, notebooks, etc. with the first semester over and another just around the corner, i had to make room for the things of the second sem. to do so, i have to throw out unimportant stuff jamming up the cabinet. i don't know why i keep things that are not really necessary, even those ready for the garbage can. but for some reason or another, they're there. now it's time to throw them out.
the task was simple: pick something, decide whether to the trash can or for keeps. and while scanning through an assortment of things, i found some pictures of my 16th birthday. i remember there was a party, but i forgot about the pictures. a lot of people were there, old classmates and friends. but looking at the faces, i can't help but wonder where they are right now. for the 20 or more visitors of that night, i can only account for less than 5 of them. that's alright, i guess. after all, an estimated 75% of the visitors just came for the free booze!
